"Children of Men"

Title: "Children of Men"

MPAA Rating: R
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Producers: M. Abraham, E. Newman, I. Smith, etc...
Editing: A. Cuaron and A. Rodriguez
Composer: Sir John Tavener
Starring:
- Clive Owen as Theo Faron
- Julianne Moore as Julian Taylor
- Michael Caine as Jasper Palmer
- Claire-Hope Ashitey as Kee
- Danny Huston as Nigel

Plot and Critical Review: In 2027 worldwide female infertility has led to the collapse of society. The United Kingdom, the last known stable nation, is deluged by asylum seekers. In response, it has become a militarized police state as British forces round up and detain immigrants. Kidnapped by an immigrants rights group known as "The Fishes," former activist turned cynical bureaucrat Theo Faron is brought to its leader, his estranged wife Julian Taylor. The couple parted ways after their son died from a flu pandemic in 2008. Julian offers Theo money to acquire transit papers for a young female refugee named Kee, which Theo obtains from his cousin Nigel, a government minister. However, the papers require the bearer to be accompanied, so Theo agrees to escort Kee in exchange for more money. Luke, a Fishes member, drives Theo, Kee, Julian and Miriam, a former midwife, towards the coast to a boat. They are ambushed by an armed gang and Julian is fatally shot. Two police officers stop their car, but Luke kills them and the group escapes to a safe house.

Kee reveals to Theo that she is pregnant, and that Julian told her that she should trust only him. Julian had intended to hand Kee over to the "Human Project", a group of scientists dedicated to curing infertility, supposedly based in the Azores. However, Luke proposes keeping Kee in England and she agrees to stay. That night, Theo awakens and eavesdrops on a meeting of Luke and other members. He discovers that Julian's death was orchestrated by the Fishes so they could use the baby as a political tool to support the coming revolution. Theo wakes Kee and Miriam and they steal a car, escaping to the secluded hideaway of aging hippie Jasper Palmer, a former political cartoonist and Theo's friend. A plan is formulated to board the Human Project ship Tomorrow which will arrive offshore from the Bexhill refugee camp. Jasper proposes getting Syd, a camp guard, to smuggle them in. The Fishes trail the group to Jasper's hideout, but Theo, Miriam, and Kee get away. Jasper stays behind to buy them some time. Before the Fishes arrive, he gives the government-issued suicide drug Quietus to his catatonic wife. A horrified Theo witnesses the Fishes gun him down before escaping. Later, they meet Syd, who transports them to Bexhill as prisoners. When Kee begins having contractions on a bus, Miriam distracts a suspicious guard with mania and is taken away.

At the camp Theo and Kee meet Marichka, who provides a room where Kee gives birth to a girl. The next day, Syd locates Theo and Kee and informs them that a full-scale war between the army and the refugees including the Fishes, has begun. After seeing the baby Syd threatens to turn them in but they attack him and escape. Amidst the violent clash between refugees and British troops, the Fishes capture Kee. Theo tracks Kee and her baby to an apartment building which is under heavy fire from the military and escorts her out. Awed by the presence of a baby, the combatants stop fighting momentarily, enabling them to escape. Marichka leads them to a boat in a sewer. As Theo rows away, he reveals to Kee that he was shot. They then witness a full-scale aerial bombing of Bexhill by the Royal Air Force and Kee tells Theo she will name her baby Dylan after Theo's dead son. Theo loses consciousness and Kee begins to sing a lullaby, as the Tomorrow approaches through a fog.

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In 2006, "Children of Men" was joined by the films "Blood Diamond" and "Brokeback Mountain"; all of which portrayed social fractures (or human behavior) with intense drama and/or action. It seemed to be the year for that sort of film. Even the music-driven "Walk The Line" told the story of legendary country-singer Johnny Cash in a glaringly honest light. Even though "Children..." was set in the future and, thus, somewhat dismissed as having provided any real social commentary, it still holds a mirror up to our world and bravely asks, "Could we be like this someday? Is this what our world is coming to?"

Visionaries like Gene Roddenberry tried to paint pictures of the future in which mankind moved beyond greed, power, and the desire for dominion. Others offer us images such as we see in "Children..."; images of future societies in which our principal freedoms are challenged, refused, and eventually crushed. Here we ask ourselves if we're simply watching a story or looking into what is ahead for our global society. When the credits roll are we brave enough to ask ourselves, "What can I do?" These movies bravely suggest what our world might become if we don't.

My Rating: 8/10

Content To Caution:
V-3.5 - Intense violence but lesser amounts of blood and gore.
L-4 - Strong profanity throughout.
DU-2 - Some drinking and smoking. One character grows marijuana and shares it with others.
RT-? - Difficult to rate Racial Themes. There's very little direct racism, but there are large groups (and even cultures) that are opposed to new life.
H/S-3 - No comment.
CH-2 - No comment.
S/N-x - A character reveals herself. An intense birthing scene shows partial nudity.

The "Reel Revelation": "That's A Long Shot"

If you've seen "Children of Men" you might recall there being several rather lengthy single-shot sequences. Simply put a single-shot sequence is a scene or sequence of scenes in which the camera never pans or cuts away from the action; it all happens in one continuous frame. "Children..." contains at least three single-shot sequences of note; the scene in which Kee gives birth (around 190 seconds), the car-chase scene (250 or so), and Theo's mad dash through the city streets in the midst of a battle (450ish seconds). We don't even really perceive that they're single-shot sequences the first time because there's so much action and the film as if it's dashing from one shot to the next, but we are in fact held in one frame for the entire sequence of events.

These single-shot sequences weren't thrown together. The city-battle scene reportedly took 14 days to plan and around 5 hours to prepare (the set) to shoot. Can you imagine...14 days to prepare a 7.5 minute shot. And if anything went wrong...if the slightest detail was missed or the cameraman took one step in the wrong direction it took 5 hours to reset the set to shoot again. Can you imagine all of that planning, time, and money lost because of the smallest error? Sounds a bit like some of the plans we set up for our own lives.

Have you ever been in such a situation? Can you think of a time when you spent countless hours (or days or weeks or month or who knows how long!) planning and preparing for something special only to have it fall apart? What caused things to go awry? A mistake you made? Someone's interference? A missed detail? And how did you cope with the disappointment when things fell apart? How did you comfort yourself when you realized all of that time and energy had been wasted? How we handle the end-result of a dashed plan is a choice we make after the fact, but what we do before we start to weave those plans can make all the difference. Remember the wisdom offered up in Proverbs:

"Commit your works to the LORD

And your plans will be established." (Proverbs 16:3)

And again...

"The mind of man plans his way,

But the LORD directs his steps." (Proverbs 16:9)

And one more for good measure...

"Many plans are in a man's heart,

But the counsel of the LORD will stand." (Proverbs 19:21)

Do you see the theme? If we opt to devise the plans for our lives by ourselves we'll be walking on thin ice. If we set out and try to plan our lives according to our own desires and inclinations we'll be (potentially) walking away from what God desires for us. Which desire is greater? Which desire will yield a greater reward? Which desire will produce the fruit of righteousness and holiness in our lives? Of this distinction Jesus said, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness..." (Matthew 6:33).

God desires your good. He loves you and desires for your life to be full and overflowing with His blessings. And He desires for you to reach that point of "overflow" under His direction. We couldn't find the way ourselves, no matter of a compass we think we've got.

See you tomorrow - E.T.